ABSTRACT
Introduction Global sourcing and offshoring of services is creating job opportunities for thousands of workers in developing economies (Dobbs et al. 2012, Dossani and Kenney 2007). In the Philippines, the pulse of this phenomenon is in the IT-enabled business process outsourcing (ITES-BPO) sector. ITES-BPO jobs are plentiful, require a low to moderate level of skills, and provide salaries that are much higher compared to entrylevel jobs in other sectors (Usui 2011). Since options for good jobs in the local labour market are limited, workers, many of them young, skilled and from middle-class background, flock to the ITES-BPO as soon as or even before they graduate from college. The industry’s need for labour is actually such that it also opens its doors to older and long unemployed persons and other workers in circumstances that disadvantage them from accessing jobs in other sectors. However, the fact that many workers leave after several months suggests that not all is rosy in the industry.Already, a growing body of literature illuminates the realities of employment in the offshore service sector, pointing out that the challenges of the reverse hours, work monotony, and limited upward career development opportunities are important reasons for workers to exit (Taylor and Bain 1999, Thite and Russell 2010, Upadhya 2009).
